GWJ FBO: Flight Simulation Catch-all

Nice sites there Hrdina. I'm envious of you as you seem to solve the biggest problem I always have which is "where do I fly"? Seems like such an easy question to answer and even with a tool like Little Nav Map literally pinpointing every airport imaginable, I still can never figure it out. I almost have to fire up something like a FSEconomy to have it tell me where to fly.

It doesn't help that in MSFS my home airport KDVO was somehow completely missed. There are no buildings, just the ramp, ground ortho photos, and the runway. Everything surrounding it is awesome, but my airport is just a flat nothing in the beautiful bay area. Less than optimal flight model in the C172 aside, not being able to practice in my home airport with accurate visuals (despite everything else being accurate around it) really is annoying.

Hrdina wrote:

I managed to land on my first attempt, surprisingly. It wasn't a pretty landing, but it counted.

Let us remember the book of Wright, Chapter 121.5 Part 61: "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing"

And the words of the prophet Yeager, Chapter 123.4 Part 91.817 : "Any landing you can walk away from and the airplane is still useable is a great landing"

So say we all.

Well, sometimes I'm in the mood to just go somewhere new and fly around to see some new sites, and will eventually start doing that. I actually did that for my first few flights after getting the sim, flying in the Florida Keys, Gibraltar, and Sanibel Island.

For now, though, I've got it in my head that every time I fly I take off from the last place I landed. It's almost like using FSEconomy except that I don't have to earn money to keep flying!

A while ago I posted the Google Map that I was using to document my tour and plan future stops. I've used it less since I started using Little NavMap, although LNM doesn't have a way (that I've found) to display my log book in quite this same fashion. I've got rough plans to fly up the Hudson from Stewart, back across the Adirondacks, up the St. Lawrence to the Canadian Maritimes, then back down through New England to New Jersey where I started. It's a nice mix of going places that I've previously visited and some new places.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/GeEvQsG.png)

Ironically, the airport I left to fly to Piseco was KUCA (Oneida County), which appears in FS (and Little NavMap) despite apparently being closed since 2007. That explains why "Runway 27" had no markings! It shows up that way in Bing maps.

If you're really having trouble finding something to do in MSFS, you can take the extreme and somewhat disturbing approach that this guy did:

Too bad about the modeling at KDVO. Is there some way to put out "requests" (maybe related to flightsim.to) for airports people want to see updated? Maybe it's your opportunity to learn a new skill!

Coldstream wrote:
Hrdina wrote:

I managed to land on my first attempt, surprisingly. It wasn't a pretty landing, but it counted.

Let us remember the book of Wright, Chapter 121.5 Part 61: "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing"

And the words of the prophet Yeager, Chapter 123.4 Part 91.817 : "Any landing you can walk away from and the airplane is still useable is a great landing"

So say we all.

Ha, as I was coming in a bit steep on final, I thought that I might be able to comply with Wright but not with Yeager.

I was honestly waiting for the nose gear to collapse or something.

I know this is flight sim world, but I just did my IRL "Long Solo" today, and what a great time. 3 landings at towered airports (I did one extra full stop pattern at KSAC to get an extra towered landing in). Taking the written knowledge test on Friday and then its practicing manuevers with the instructor until he feels I'm ready for the Practical.

If anyone is bored and wants to fly my long solo legs:

Leg 1: KDVO - KCCR (direct)
Leg 2: KCCR - KSAC (via O88)
Leg 3: KSAC - KLHM (via MCC)
Leg 4: KLHM - KDVO (via O41-KVCB) and if you want to be technical, beware that Delta airspace over Napa (KAPC)

Had flight following so was able to cut through the various Charlie airspaces, flew by Travis AFB as well.

Excellent, congratulations!

Hrdina wrote:

A while ago I posted the Google Map that I was using to document my tour and plan future stops. I've used it less since I started using Little NavMap, although LNM doesn't have a way (that I've found) to display my log book in quite this same fashion. I've got rough plans to fly up the Hudson from Stewart, back across the Adirondacks, up the St. Lawrence to the Canadian Maritimes, then back down through New England to New Jersey where I started. It's a nice mix of going places that I've previously visited and some new places.

There are two reliable free apps that will track your flight for you that I know of. SimToolKit Pro and Volanta. The former is 100% free, the latter is currently 100% free but they seem to hint at premium services down the road. The latter is also fully or partially funded by scenery designer Orbx so ultimately should be a pretty good app. I've only used the former.

Both just run in the background while you fly and when you land will show your track log and keep a log book recording your aircraft, time, etc. I used simtoolkit for a while, but I bounce around too much so it's not quite a interesting. Its pretty cool for something like you are on a big multi leg tour.

Carlbear95 wrote:

I know this is flight sim world, but I just did my IRL "Long Solo" today, and what a great time.

Congrats! That's a big achievement. I think the first long solo is the first time you're flying alone and really have time to think about stuff. Nothing beats the butterflies of the first solo, but I think it was the long solo that really gave me a true sense of freedom and the feeling of actually being a pilot. Keep it up!

Yep was a lot of fun. First time really using the radios solo with ATC IRL, and got flight following the whole way. There is one airport (KCCR) that is used for a lot of training and my instructor warned me that the tower will be tough on you. For a small regional airport it has 4 crossing runways and a pretty complex taxi diagram, and yeah I had to be corrected a few times, but that's what they are there for.

Between work and weather I haven't flown as much as I'd like to this calendar year, so out of 5 landings, 2 were sub-optimal.. one even got me a bit of guff from the tower. The key though is to just not get flustered, and having done VATSIM for well over a year before getting into the real thing I'm pretty confident on the radios. It was a monday during COVID so wasn't that busy and I stayed mostly out of the Mode C veil around SFO. Sometimes I think I'm a bit too casual, so if was busier, I'd probably have to quicken my tempo a bit when requesting or confirming instructions.

Carlbear95 wrote:

There is one airport (KCCR) that is used for a lot of training and my instructor warned me that the tower will be tough on you. For a small regional airport it has 4 crossing runways and a pretty complex taxi diagram, and yeah I had to be corrected a few times, but that's what they are there for.

Just remember that ATC is there for you, not the other way around. You're not an inconvenience, and you don't owe them anything. Their job is to provide separation and informational services. As PIC, if you find yourself getting flustered, behind the airplane, or otherwise starting to get into a suboptimal situation, you can just inform ATC of your intentions and act accordingly. More than one pilot has told ATC to zip it while they work on keeping the aircraft shiny-side up, and far too many have crashed on approach because they were trying to follow an ATC direction that exceeded the capability of either the pilot, aircraft, or both. As long as you don't violate the FARs and can defend your reasoning, you'll be fine. Never forget that you and only you are the ultimate authority over that flight.

Reminds me of a story I read in a recent issue of Flying. A controller wanted an aircraft to perform a very aggressive descent, issuing the instruction for a drop from high altitude to very low altitude, and the direction to "do it now, and use speed-brakes if you've got them". The crusty aircraft captain came back over the radio and said "son, the speed-brakes are there to fix our mistakes, not yours." LOL

On topic, I'll be logging a lot more sim time soon as I gear up to knock out my Commercial in the next couple of months. I was at the air-field today getting that set up. I'm also going through the process of becoming a Civil Air Patrol pilot. I always thought they mostly did cadet stuff, but turns out they fly a lot of reconnaissance and SAR missions, which sounds like a good way to get a few hours logged on someone else's dime. When I learned to fly, GPS approaches were brand new and GPS units were handheld and considered cheating. It was all NDB/VOR fixes for nav and whiz-wheel action for airspeed and drift. My examiner for both Private and Instrument flatly refused to allow me to use GPS for anything other than flying a GPS approach for fun after the actual check-ride.

I'm looking forward to finding out what it's like to fly a light aircraft smart enough to tell me where I am and where I should be heading. The Chief pilot today advised me to "get smart" on the Garmin G430, so I guess I will.

Coldstream wrote:

Just remember that ATC is there for you, not the other way around. You're not an inconvenience, and you don't owe them anything. Their job is to provide separation and informational services. As PIC, if you find yourself getting flustered, behind the airplane, or otherwise starting to get into a suboptimal situation, you can just inform ATC of your intentions and act accordingly. More than one pilot has told ATC to zip it while they work on keeping the aircraft shiny-side up, and far too many have crashed on approach because they were trying to follow an ATC direction that exceeded the capability of either the pilot, aircraft, or both. As long as you don't violate the FARs and can defend your reasoning, you'll be fine. Never forget that you and only you are the ultimate authority over that flight.

Yep. When I debriefed with my instructor I told him I was given the short runway at KCCR. I landed there no problem, but he said I should have asked for the longer parallel runway. I thought about it for a long time while I was flying too, but yeah I guess i was a bit intimidated.

Coldstream wrote:

I'm looking forward to finding out what it's like to fly a light aircraft smart enough to tell me where I am and where I should be heading. The Chief pilot today advised me to "get smart" on the Garmin G430, so I guess I will.

Nice, unfortunately I don't think there is a default plane in XPL or MSFS that only has a 430. I know the Carenado C208 in Xplane only has a 430. The C172 in XPL has one as well but its the secondary Nav Unit (G530 is Nav 1), and I'm not sure how to couple Nav 2 to the AP, but you can at least look at it for guidance and can program in a route.

Carlbear95 wrote:

Nice, unfortunately I don't think there is a default plane in XPL or MSFS that only has a 430. I know the Carenado C208 in Xplane only has a 430. The C172 in XPL has one as well but its the secondary Nav Unit (G530 is Nav 1), and I'm not sure how to couple Nav 2 to the AP, but you can at least look at it for guidance and can program in a route.

Thanks for the heads-up. Luckily, the JustFlight Piper Arrow III has a 430 option as one of the three available units (GPS 100, GNS 430 and GNS 530), and I believe it's fully(?) functional. They boast that it's part of a fully-functional IFR suite, so hopefully it will be modeled well enough that I can fool around with the fundamentals. The school has all the manuals available for download, so I can get comfortable with it for free at home before I start paying by the hour.

And yeah, totally hear you on requesting runways. When I was first getting started, I was pretty nervous to ask anything from ATC. It helped that I ended up getting to know some of them personally at a local aviation bar and found them pretty down-to-earth. If you're looking for cross-wind landing practice, don't be afraid to request something other than the active runway. Obviously you don't want to be an ass, so don't request something that's going to screw up everyone else trying to land, but it's entirely legitimate to fly another runway. Many times at KCOS (two main parallel north-south runways and a shorter mid-field runway at an angle), I'd fly a tight pattern to not overfly whenever active main runway was in use and use the middle runway for gnarly crosswind landings. Awesome for building stick-and-rudder skills and you can bounce every minute or two with a tight pattern.

It's funny how perspective hits you. All of my training was Part 141 in Class C airspace, so I was super comfortable in Class C, while Class B felt like going to a bigger city and Class D felt like going to a small town. But you know what scared me? Uncontrolled airfields. Bunch of yahoos on Unicom randomly entering the pattern wherever they felt like it and you had to hope like hell everyone was accurately reporting their position. Absolutely terrifying.

I thought I read that the GNS 430 doesn't actually couple with the AP in the MSFS Piper and I'm going to assume it doesn't do any sort of vertical guidance unless its an ILS, but curious if it works. Also, as a pilot yourself, if you do have Foreflight, I know XPL will talk directly to it and I'm pretty sure so will MSFS. That won't fly the plane for you, but give you just some extra navigation guidance.

Regarding untowered, yeah, I hear ya. My base is untowered, just out of the Mode C veil, so it does make it easy to get up and down and practice, but in just my short time flying I've seen someone roll onto the runway while someone else called turning final (both were on comms btw). At untowered KLHM airport where I went last week, that is a major training airport, and there's a sign in the FBO that basically said there are a bunch of people here who routinely break FAA regulations and guidance, be careful. When flying in I was coming from the south, landing 33. I did what I'm pretty sure is the correct procedure basically flying past the airport to the left (west), coming back around to enter the left downwind for 33. Meanwhile some other guy also coming from the south just says "5 miles to the south, straight in 33". I get it, he's probably in a hurry, doesn't want to deal with the pattern, and I was the only other person around there, but definitely made for a little extra stress while I looked for him. He was far enough and saw me and called #2 so that was a relief, but yeah... some fun on my big solo!

Carlbear95 wrote:

I thought I read that the GNS 430 doesn't actually couple with the AP in the MSFS Piper and I'm going to assume it doesn't do any sort of vertical guidance unless its an ILS, but curious if it works. Also, as a pilot yourself, if you do have Foreflight, I know XPL will talk directly to it and I'm pretty sure so will MSFS. That won't fly the plane for you, but give you just some extra navigation guidance.

Honestly, the AP thing doesn't worry me. Even in real-life, I can count on one hand the number of times I've allowed the autopilot to fly anything. Once was in a P-8A, and I used altitude/heading hold in a MH-60R a few times during cruise, but otherwise I've hand-flown everything. I'm sure with the more modern cockpits I'll be willing to allow the AP to help out, but my trust in automation is low and I think there's value in hand-flying wherever possible. I'm also a guy who drives a stick-shift because I think automatics make it too easy for people to not pay attention while they're driving, so take my opinions with a grain of salt. Haha!

Thanks for the heads-up about Foreflight. I'll be using an EFB for the first time over the next few months, so I'm definitely looking at Foreflight/Garmin Pilot/FlyQ as options. I've been a die-hard Android guy for a long time, but was basically forced into just buying an iPad since almost all the really useful aviation stuff seems to be Apple-only, or at least much better integrated on that platform. I actually felt a weird twinge of shame when I hit the "purchase" button.

So you've run into a "straight-in" guy, eh? There's always a few floating around. It's been a while and I need to refresh myself on the regs and pilot handbook, but I recall that the recommended procedure was an overhead of the airport followed by a 45-degree entry into a (usually) left downwind for the active. That way you can see the airport, runway condition, wind-socks, anyone in the pattern, and have time to announce your intentions before entering the pattern proper. You did it right, and sounds like you handled yourself well!

I'll fly the Piper this weekend and will report back on how the 430 works. I sat down with the CO of the local CAP squadron today and it looks like I'll be flying at least one aircraft with a fully-glass cockpit with G1000, so this old steam-gauge pilot is going to need to get more comfortable with these new-fangled speed and altitude tapes.

Carlbear95 wrote:

There are two reliable free apps that will track your flight for you that I know of. SimToolKit Pro and Volanta. The former is 100% free, the latter is currently 100% free but they seem to hint at premium services down the road. The latter is also fully or partially funded by scenery designer Orbx so ultimately should be a pretty good app. I've only used the former.

Both just run in the background while you fly and when you land will show your track log and keep a log book recording your aircraft, time, etc. I used simtoolkit for a while, but I bounce around too much so it's not quite a interesting. Its pretty cool for something like you are on a big multi leg tour.

Thanks, I'll have a look at them both.

I've actually been pretty happy with Little NavMap, to the point of throwing a few Euros to the author (Alexander Barthel) so I'm a bit motivated to keep using it now.

Coldstream wrote:

I'll fly the Piper this weekend and will report back on how the 430 works. I sat down with the CO of the local CAP squadron today and it looks like I'll be flying at least one aircraft with a fully-glass cockpit with G1000, so this old steam-gauge pilot is going to need to get more comfortable with these new-fangled speed and altitude tapes.

Conveniently for you, JustFlight sent out an email today that the Arrow III was updated to version 0.4.0. There were a couple of 430 items mentioned:
- GNS dual configuration added (GNS 530 COM/NAV1, GNS 430 COM/NAV 2)

v0.4.0 Patch Notes wrote:

- PMS50 GTN 750 integration added
- GNS dual configuration added (GNS 530 COM/NAV1, GNS 430 COM/NAV 2)
- KMA 20 logic changes
- Ground service support added (marshaller and fuel truck)
- ASI TAS scale fixed
- Yoke timer now takes simulation rate into account
- KN62 DME speed now takes bearing to/from DME into account
- Emergency landing gear logic fixes
- KR85 ADF will now automatically search for fractional frequencies (e.g. 383.5 with 383 selected)
- CDI now works with RNAV approaches
- Reference speeds corrected
- GNS 430/530 voltage requirements reduced
- Landing gear auto extension light now flashes when system is disabled (via lever)
- EFB will now power back on automatically if previously hidden using the ICOMM switch with the power on
- Propeller exercise check added to ground power checklist
- Magneto/ignition position and GNS 530/430 power states now saved/restored when state saving is enabled
- KN62 display no longer illuminated at night with power off
- Aircraft stuck at hold short during pre-flight animation when starting from the runway - fixed
- Sound fixes:
optimised brake/rudder pedal audio
ground roll volume
adjusted interior startup/shutdown volume
adjusted low RPM engine volume
improved surround effect of engine noise
improved wind noise
improved fuel pump loop
improved audibility of interior gear retraction/extension audio

- Sound additions:
background panel rattle on low engine RPMs
wind noise when door is closed but not latched
vacuum driven gyro noise
new samples for emergency gear lever, annunciator test button, EGT target knob and mixture lock

Please note: The development team are busy working on a variety of fixes and improvements to the flight dynamics. Those are undergoing extensive testing and will be released as soon as possible in the coming days.

Hrdina wrote:

Conveniently for you, JustFlight sent out an email today that the Arrow III was updated to version 0.4.0. There were a couple of 430 items mentioned:
- GNS dual configuration added (GNS 530 COM/NAV1, GNS 430 COM/NAV 2)

Downloaded! I wish they could update without requiring me to download the entire 850MB+ package again, but I'm glad they're working on it. I'll be interested to see what they're doing with the flight dynamics, as they seemed pretty darn good already.

Coldstream wrote:

I'll be interested to see what they're doing with the flight dynamics, as they seemed pretty darn good already.

I have the feeling that we'll find out about that around the same time they release the Turbo Arrows.

One of the things I just saw on the JF forum is that when they added the new option for the combined GNS530/GNS430, they removed the GNS430-only option.

Edit: When I flew tonight, the options were GNS100, GNS530, and GNS "Dual".

My flight took me from Pittsfield, MA, over Bennington VT, and landing at Saratoga Springs, NY. My daughter spent a couple of summers at Skidmore College there.

IMAGE(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1760320391481242970/50723AF3CE010A264E7B7A4B7AF49A964CF36121/)

TIL that I can use the mouse-wheel to turn knobs in the cockpit. All this time I've been hunting for that precise region to give me the backwards or forwards arrow, while all I had to do was just put my mouse cursor over the knob and then use the mouse wheel. I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out. Adjusting frequencies and using the GPS units suddenly got much easier!

I did a flight with the GNS Dual configuration, which was great. Lets me fool with both the 430 and the 530 since they're linked. They appear to be functional, but I'll know more once I start shooting more approaches.

When I was experimenting last night, I launched a flight to practice an instrument approach. Since it was late and the local weather was heavy rain and intermittent storms, the mid-air start was immediately IMC. No worries! What was crazy was that for some reason the start gave me a cold aircraft. So I found myself in a silent, dark aircraft that was rapidly dropping and banking while the horn was blaring. I used active-pause to figure out how to turn on the flashlight and flip on all the switches (it didn't occur to me until later to use the automatic "ready to fly" function for the Arrow). Unpausing, I was in solid IMC, inverted, and 45-degrees nose-down. Even though it was a sim, my heart was racing! Fortunately, the old training kicked in, I dropped the power, leveled the wings, and brought it out of the dive with a total altitude loss of about 1000 feet. Luckily I didn't tumble the AI, so that helped with the recovery.

Also, for the actual pilots in the room, I'm going to strongly, strongly suggest you watch this video I incidentally found while looking up IFR stuff:

Absolutely classic VFR flight into IMC. A pilot doing his best but still behind the aircraft. Inadvertent banking of the type that leads to graveyard spirals. Mental confusion from too many inputs. Forgetting the "aviate, navigate, communicate" holy rule. Great use of ATC and a stand-out performance by the controller. Brilliant video narrated by the pilot himself. So many lessons to learn here. Carlbear95, put this one in your mental flight-bag as a lesson learned! I certainly did!

Man, I'm not a real pilot, but anytime ATC starts asking you Search & Rescue questions must make your blood run cold!

Also, as soon as that alarm went off I wondered if he had pitot heat on. It's easy to think of those things while sitting at your desk watching someone else try to handle an emergency. Then again, I think my pulse went up quite a bit watching that.

And written test passed with a 93%! Very excited. More importantly I didn't miss the weather questions so I won't get grilled on 5 types of fog on my oral. I figure out 3 of the 4 questions I missed from the ACS but haven't figured out the 4th, unless I just marked the wrong answer by mistake.

Double checked my logbook and I still have like 1.2 hours of under the hood training, but other than that its just practicing maneuvers with the instructor.

Carlbear95 wrote:

And written test passed with a 93%! Very excited. More importantly I didn't miss the weather questions so I won't get grilled on 5 types of fog on my oral. I figure out 3 of the 4 questions I missed from the ACS but haven't figured out the 4th, unless I just marked the wrong answer by mistake.

Double checked my logbook and I still have like 1.2 hours of under the hood training, but other than that its just practicing maneuvers with the instructor.

Congratulations! I'm looking forward to hearing how your check-ride goes!

Got around to watching that video. Yeah, at least from a preparation standpoint, I hear where he's coming from. Flying up here in Norcal while VFR, pitot heat really isn't necessary. I rarely test it preflight, only when its like below 40 degrees (which is almost never here). Also as just a beginner I don't want a cloud anywhere around me

I guess good thing for the old cessna I'm flying, there is no AOA indicator or electric stall warning. I think I would be peeing my pants if that was constantly going off. It does give additional insight into those 737-max tragedies though.. if its not functioning and the plane thinks its stalling, the stall prevention shoves the nose down. Also, regarding the souls on board, and search and rescue, its really because he was going from VFR to IFR and that information is required to file an IFR flight plan, and no flight plan is actually required for VFR flying which is how he started.

For the non-pilots reading.. you may have been surprised when he said "I realized I was banked" even though the HSI was clearly banked. You don't actually feel anything in a plane if you're at 1G. You could be at a 45 degree bank but if you're still at 1G it still feels like you're straight and level (you'd be descending pretty fast in this situation as well).

Last night I flew out of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (CYJN), Québec, over the city of Montréal, then up the Ottawa River to the capital.

The view of the lovely island city from my Piper Arrow III.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/MaJQTIo.jpg)

Here is a view of Parc olympique, including Stade Saputo (home of the Montreal Impact/CF Montréal), Stade olympique (former home of Les Expos de Montréal), La Tour de Montréal, Aréna Maurice-Richard. Open that image in a new tab to appreciate the modeling of the Big O.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/BdXF2gF.jpg)

Of course I had a CTD just as I settled into the downwind to land at Ottawa (CYOW).j I had a lot of radio chatter going on (I had both COM1 and COM2 active) and sometimes wonder if that causes these CTDs. There must have been almost a dozen calls from CYOW tower telling a Cessna to turn at the next taxiway. That happens a lot.

This isn't a flight sim issue, beyond the fact that the featured aircraft (SR22) is in the sim.

Here's a video of a Cirrus coming down under parachute after a mid-air collision. From what I've read the Cirrus pilot wandered into the flight path for a parallel runway. It tore a hole in a twin-engine aircraft which somehow managed to land. No deaths reported.

Scary stuff.

As someone learning to fly in the Bay Area, home of the instant tech-bazillionaire, the Cirrus is basically the Tesla Model 3 of single engine aircrafts. Looks cool, faster than most other cars, status symbol, but at the end of the day, its actually not that great of a car. 90% of the people that step out of one look like your prototypical tech VC startup bro. I know that's a generalization and I'm sure I'll eat my words, but at least here that's the perception.

Obviously happy no one was killed but it doesn't surprise me if it was the Cirrus pilot who was at fault. The parachute is marketed as a safety FEATURE but its actually because Cirrus couldn't pass the FAA requirements for spin recovery that they had to petition the FAA to grant them an exception because they have the parachute. Basically they said "yeah our plane can't recover from a spin, but look we have a parachute!".

I have completed my HOTAS "downgrade", finding a t16000m joystick at MSRP and will keep my Alpha/Bravo combination. The t16000m allows for both a left and right configuration which is really what I needed, since most GA aircraft with a stick are configured for the left-hand.

So that means I have a Saitek X-55 Rhino (equivalent of Logitech X-56) now taking up space that I don't have. It's served me well over the years. I'm happy to give it to a US located, flight simulator playing GWJer for the cost of shipping (I think it will fit in a large USPS one-price box). I have the set of tension springs, and everything as far as I can tell works well. You absolutely need a powered USB Hub (not included) with at least 2 free ports, or you'll get a ton of ghosting on the throttle quadrant. Works natively in MSFS, Xplane 11 and Elite Dangerous, and I'm sure in the other HOTAS supporting sims as well.

Posting here first, then will post on the DCS and Elite pages next.

ps. just so you know its a SAITEK X-55. Logitech names its Warthog, X-55.. this is NOT a Warthog.

Just Flight sent me an email today saying that their PA-28R Turbo Arrow III/IV will be on sale tomorrow (Friday) for $45.

If you bought the Arrow III for FS 2020, you (I!) have a coupon for 66% off. If it's anywhere near as good as the Arrow III I'll be getting this as well.

I also saw on FSElite a week or so ago that JF will (soon?) release add-ons to provide real-word taxiway signage to default FS airports, starting with Class C & D airports. I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, $45 for everything they're including seems like a bargain; on the other, a lot of that stuff should probably have been included in the base sim.

If you really want to fly low-and-slow but still have a cockpit:

This looks like something from Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, but apparently it is a real aircraft.

Hrdina wrote:

I also saw on FSElite a week or so ago that JF will (soon?) release add-ons to provide real-word taxiway signage to default FS airports, starting with Class C & D airports. I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, $45 for everything they're including seems like a bargain; on the other, a lot of that stuff should probably have been included in the base sim.

Yeah, disappointing how badly mislabeled the taxiways are, but at least if you have littlenavmap to the side, you have a copy of the mislabeled taxiways for you to look at. If you get this addon, even though you now have real taxiways, i'm not sure if LNM will pick them up, so you'll have to use a real chart which I don't think has a free moving map addon. Simple enough at a small airport, but good luck in Denver or some crazy airport like Madrid (LEMD).

Carlbear95 wrote:

Yeah, disappointing how badly mislabeled the taxiways are, but at least if you have littlenavmap to the side, you have a copy of the mislabeled taxiways for you to look at. If you get this addon, even though you now have real taxiways, i'm not sure if LNM will pick them up, so you'll have to use a real chart which I don't think has a free moving map addon. Simple enough at a small airport, but good luck in Denver or some crazy airport like Madrid (LEMD).

Yeah, this is something I'm curious about. Given that the JustFlight description states that "areas can now be requested from ATC by name" and "you will be able to navigate airports using real-world taxiway diagrams, online ATC or default ATC, and AI aircraft will follow the same instructions too", maybe that means that this add-on is actually modifying the MSFS database with the correct taxiway and parking names? If so, then maybe LNM would pick up on the changes, too.

In the long long ago I used to go and print out taxiway charts of the airports I was planning to visit.